This was the shortest journey we have ever undertaken, perhaps appropriate as the start to a day when the ice and snow had filled the media with long stories about travel problems. But Linda and I met at North Greenwich Station with no difficulty (in fact we met on the Jubilee Line train from Canada Water) and were onto our single decker by 10.00.
We were the only passengers as we whipped round the various car parks and buildings of the peninsula, and headed towards the Millenium Village and its various cinemas and supermarkets, not to mention its modern accommodation blocks. A couple more people got on at this stage, asking anxiously if this was the right bus for the Cutty Sark, but there were only the four of us.
We saw a 129 going in the opposite direction, and noted that it was 'going green for London': ours was more traditional and, presumably, pollutant.
We turned right to get across the approach road to the Blackwall Tunnel (something would have gone wrong with it as we returned on our fourth bus of the day and there were huge queues of stationary traffic, but it will be many buses before we tell you about that.)
We passed the Angerstein Hotel, a pub named after a local business man of the 18th century, whose art collection now forms part of the National Gallery's display, as well as East Greenwich Library, on Vanbrugh Hill, named for the great architect before coming to some new building, claiming to be sustainable accommodation to make a 'new Heart for Greenwich'. It seems to be rising on the site of a disused hospital, if the website for English Partnerships is talking about the same new heart. We also saw the Forum at Greenwich, an ex-church, now a combination of accommodation and venue.
And the King William IV pub was a reminder of the King of Britain who had actually served in the Royal Navy, appropriate for this most naval of boroughs.Even with so few passengers, the cold outside meant that the windows were fairly misted up, limiting our view of the wide expanse of Greenwich Park, soon to become the Equestrian centre for the 2012 Olympics. But we could just about glimpse the Observatory on the top of the Hill. a reminder that Greenwich's strapline is 'the borough where time begins'.
Soon we were passing the entrance to Greenwich Market, and the many interesting shops of Greenwich, to pull up not far from the Naval Hospital, and not very close at all to the Cutty Sark, which is the named destination for this bus
Our trip was complete in just about 15 minutes, leaving us to assume that this bus is a side effect of modern transport developments, since it links the Jubilee Line with the DLR. A very pleasant little drive, with a considerate and careful driver.
This one of two buses from North Greenwich to Greenwich centre. I was a resident the 129 was to be introduced starting from North Greenwich station. Everyone was allowed to vote for a route and give a reason. Of the four routes proposed that one came out top. Short and sweet i think residents wanted more than just the 188 to go to Maratime Greenwich.
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